14 DAY TRIAL // For the past few months, Apple has been reminding former MobileMe subscribers that their complementary iCloud storage was about to disappear. Long story short, these people now have to either renounce the 20GB or upgrade to a paid plan to keep rolling in style.
Apple has released an updated Support document which includes a truckload of information on the storage upgrades available to Apple customers, how to upgrade or downgrade that storage, and payment information (viewing, making changes, etc.).
“When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5 GB of free storage for Backup, Documents, and Mail. Your purchased music, movies, apps, books, TV shows, as well as your photo streams, don’t count against your free storage,” Apple explains.
Customers who need more storage space are invited to upgrade to a larger 10 GB, 20 GB, or 50 GB plan for various annual fees (broken down below with a € conversion on our behalf).
10 additional GB (15 GB total): $20/€15 per year 20 additional GB (25 GB total): $40/€30 per year 50 additional GB (55 GB total): $100/€74 per year
Users who prefer to hold onto their money are told they can reduce the amount of iCloud storage they’re using.
Apple assures customers that they can change their iCloud storage plan at any time, while the bill will be automatically renewed every year for those who make no changes to their contract.
“When you request a downgrade, it will take effect on the anniversary when your storage upgrade was purchased,” Apple further reveals.
Also interesting to note is that Apple will be offering a prorated refund for customers buying a higher-tier storage plan to replace an existing storage plan (i.e. a 20 GB plan to replace a 10 GB plan).
“The new storage plan is applied to your iCloud account and the annual payment date is updated to reflect the purchase date for the new plan,” Apple says.